By Zhang Ke

Ningcun in Wenzhou, a prosperous port city in southern Zhejiang, is now known for its July 15th Tang He Cultural Festival. It has been included in the intangible heritage directory at the municipal, provincial and national level. Preparatory work is now under way for its inclusion in the worlds cultural heritage list.

History and Surnames

In its history, Ningcun was one of the 59 military outposts built in 1387 as part of the coast defense against Japanese pirates. It was built by Tang He (1326-1395), a duke of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The military outpost served as barracks for soldiers from all over the country.They lived there and were allowed to get married and settle down. If pirates came, they would fight as an army. In peaceful times, they supported themselves economically by working as farmers. The soldiers settled down and life has been going on since then.

Today, the village of Ningcun has a population of 3,000 people. A demographic survey in 2001 indicated that 89 surnames in the village had survived and 20 plus surnames had vanished. Despite the great number of different surnames, some surnames are in majority. In the village are 585 Wangs, 303 Xus, 287 Zhangs and 199 Pans. On the other end of the surnames, there are 10 plus surnames, each of which is shared by less than 10 people in the village.

The surnames are viewed as the cultural roots of the village and the fossils of history. Villagers live peacefully together though their surnames differ. The village management committee has nine members and only two of them share a surname. In neighboring villages village affairs are often managed by people from the same big clan. Today, the surnames are a unique phenomenon that makes Ningcun stand out.

Tang He Cultural Festival

The festival is not a new event. It goes back to 1528 when local officials received government approval and set up a memorial temple in honor of Tang He as a national hero in Ningcun. Before the temple, villagers had ceremonial tablets at their separate homes. After the temple, they put them into the temple and decided to hold a collective ceremony on the ninth day of January and the 15th day of July every year. In the history, the temple evolved to double as the city god temple. Over centuries, it has been one of the most important religious venues in Wenzhou where local people pray for blessings from heaven.

The temple is a stately structure. Tang He Temple are inscribed and gilded in large size on a perpendicular plague mounted on the front wall. Inside the gate is a large courtyard. On either side of the courtyard is a row of stone steles. A stone stele on the left side succinctly relates the lifetime honors and posthumous honors Tang He garnered in his military career of helping found the dynasty and fighting the invading Japanese pirates. The second courtyard leads to a great hall where there is a sculpted wood statue of Tang He, encased by a large glass frame. In front of the hall are two rows of weapon stacks where more than 20 ancient weapons are displayed.

Also in the second courtyard is a theater stage. The stage is a moveable one. The stage floor can be removed when there is no show. Doors beside the stage lead to wing-rooms. On the northern side of the great hall is a rear hall where the statues of Tang He and his wife sit. The other side of the hall is the living quarters assigned for Tang and his wife. The temple has many unforgettable couplets.

The main structure of the temple was constructed during the years of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the temple expanded to include the rear temple. Donations have been made over centuries for maintenance. When the temple affair was a high-profile local event, a lot of activities took place when the duke was celebrated in January and July. The event was called off after 1949.

In 1994, local people decided to resume celebrating Tang He and restart the temple affair. The annual event was held with donations from villagers. In 2004, the temple affair was upgraded to the Tang He Folk Culture and Art Festival. The whole village organized themselves into a parade through neighboring villages.

The parade caused happy sensations throughout the region. The procession was composed of more than 50 groups. The parade was led by a power drum team, meant to represent the soldiers in the Ming Dynasty before their fight against invading Japanese pirates. The power drum team was followed by a group of people upholding the banners of their surnames. Other groups also staged a great variety of highly entertaining shows and dances using stilts, make-believe boats and lions. The most eye-catching of the parade was a statue of Tang He in a sedan, carried in turn by 16 men dressed in ancient costumes.

Nowadays, about 2,000 villagers of Ningcun participate in the parade. It starts before dawn and comes back to the village at dusk. The parade goes through 43 villages and travels about 25 kilometers.All the 43 villages are decorated with lanterns and banners and a ceremonial table is set up where a memorial rite can be conducted. The parade falls on the 15th of July, followed by drama shows on 16th and 17th before it comes to an end.

The festival has become the biggest celebration in the region. It features patriotism; it honors the fight against Japanese pirates; and its activities in honor of ancestors are in line with Chinese tradition and virtue. The government does not spend a cent for the celebration. All the costs are shouldered by the villagers.

In recent years, the temple has been furthered expanded. The temple now has a back garden with two pavilions. The village has a tomb in honor of the martyrs in the fight against Japanese pirates. The cemetery is next to the ancient military training ground.

Cultural Heritage

The festival is now viewed as a cultural heritage for a few reasons. First of all, it is well organized around nine activities from early morning to early evening, each endowed with a special meaning and for a special function.

Secondly, the celebrating shows during the festival are no longer ancient rites centered on memorial services in honor of ancestors and services for the purpose of bribing ghosts and sending them away. Innovations have been introduced. There are traditional entertainments such as the stilt shows, the drum show, the kongfu shows, the fan performance, the boat performance, the lion dance, and the umbrella performance. And there are modern performances such as the tea dance, the aerobic dance, the Indian dance, the dragon lanterns, the waist drum show, and the ancient military performance with horses, ships and carriages.

“Lantern Spelling” is a tradition in Ningcun for a long time. It lasts from the first day to the 18th day of January on the lunar calendar. Unlike some other dragon dance forms, this dragon lantern dance spells auspicious phrases for peace, prosperity, marital happiness, and family harmony. The parts of a dragon are not connected together. They are separate so that they can form into different greetings. Performers, with little ringing bells tied around their ankles, run to form different phrases.

The entertaining groups for the regional parade are now regular teams with regular members. For example, the power drum team has 42 drummers; the dragon lantern team has 180 members; the waist drum team is composed of 40 plus members; the stilts team consists of 50 members. They hold regular rehearsals and introduce innovative elements into their performance.

Ningcun

Ningcun is rich thanks to its flourishing village economy. It runs two industrial parks, which are home to hundreds of large-scale and small businesses. The villages annual revenue tops 7 million yuan and the total assets of the village are worth 100 million. Ninety percent of the villagers live in new houses.□